45 User Reviews of Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Ship

Brillance is a beautiful ship. Food was plentiful and nicely
presented. Crew was extremely friendly and did a good job. Our
balcony cabin on deck 7 was smaller then expected with a little
tiny sofa. Room had good storage space. Biggest disappointment for
us was the lack of nonsmoking areas to sit and read or have a
drink.

Only nonsmoking bar we found was in the Solarium but it closed
at 7pm. Other bars and dancing areas were devided with half room
non and half smoking, and that does not work very well for folks
that are offended by smoke smell. I have been on RCI ships I liked
much better.

The Brilliance of the Seas is a beautiful ship. Even though we
were full it never seemed crowded. I wanted to just ride the
elevators and enjoy the view since that side of the ship is almost
all glass. Food in the dining room was hit and miss. Some nights
very good and some nights so-so. I was at table 472 and had a
wonderful waiter and assistant waiter. Had dinner at Chops one
night. It was very good but may not do this again.

I was able to get on the ship early, around 11:30-11:45. But be
careful at the Boston Port. They are very disorganized. They were
sending cabs to the wrong buildings. There were 3 ships in port and
I almost ended up on NCL.

When we disembarked, we were the only ship in port but it still
took over 1 hour to get a cab.

My wife and I recently cruised on Brilliance of the Seas around
the Baltic Sea and would make the following observations. It should
be borne in mind that this was only her fifth cruise so some
teething troubles are only to be expected.

We were in the fortunate position of sailing from Harwich which
meant that we could drive there rather than flying and, having
arrived early, stopped for coffee. From the car park we could see
the ship and boy is she huge. We had visited Legend of the Seas
there the previous year and Brilliance dwarfed her. Suitably
refreshed we then parked in the long term car park from where
porters took our luggage to the cruise terminal. We were still
early by about three quarters of an hour but were able to board
straight away and were in our stateroom within 15 minutes!
Impressive!

We had booked a balcony cabin in grade E1 on deck 7 right at the
stern of the ship and noticed straight away the length of the walk
from the nearest lift to our cabin door - later measured at about
115 yards. A set

of rear lifts would have been appreciated. The cabin itself was
fine; lots of cubby holes, drawers and wardrobe space. Bathroom
also fine even if the shower cubicle was a little small. Balcony
was about 8 feet square with 2 chairs and a table; there would have
been plenty of room for recliners. New to us though was the fact
that the balcony rail was set back from the sea by about 6 feet of
steel flooring and, looking forwards, so were all the others. While
waiting for the luggage we went exploring before the majority of
our fellow passengers had embarked which proved to be a good move
since we had the run of an almost empty ship.This exploration
confirmed our first impression of the sheer size of the ship; it
would be all too easy to get lost. The Solarium is truly stunning
with its Indian theme although the pool is quite small - for that
matter so is the external one midships. The show lounge is equally
impressive with uninterrupted sight lines from virtually all seats
although why its entrance to the upper level on deck 6 is via the
casino and scoreboard bar beats me. At least the scoreboard bar is
rarely open!

We have cruised with Royal Caribbean before and were hopeful
that the food would have improved on Brilliance but were not
surprised to find that it hadn't. Basic mass catering given a lot
of French names and with insufficient choice. The main dining room
is noisy and we found that our fellow dinner companions had all
booked through the same travel agency; novel way of allocating
guests to tables which might explain why the assistant maitre'd
told us that he had changed 800 table allocations! The Windjammer
café was where we ate breakfast every day and for that matter
lunch. Reasonable choice but tended to get crowded. Our dinner
companions had tried the main restaurant for breakfast and lunch
once each but opted for the Windjammer thereafter since the service
was so slow. Don't miss the ice cream dispenser tucked away in the
back left hand corner: great taste, shame the cones are so small!
We did not sample either of the alternative dining venues since I
consider a nominal booking charge of $20 per person excessive and
that is before a tip - yes they leave a space on the charge account
for tips to be added. Those we spoke to who had eaten there said
how good the food was and you could have as much ( or as little )
as you wanted but it was a $60 meal for two. Similarly to ask $2 to
$4 for a cappuccino in Lattetudes when there is free coffee or tea
outside the Windjammer all day long is over the top.

We took this cruise since it visited places we wished to visit
which is why we take any cruise; it is a means to an end. We could
not visit Stockholm as scheduled since the wind speed was too great
in the Stockholm Archipelago for Brilliance to be allowed in due to
its size. This is a Swedish regulation for which RCI cannot be
blamed but should be born in mind if you simply must go there. I
have been unable to find the maximum size allowed in with winds
over 20 knots which I think the Captain said was the limit. All the
other ports of call lived up to expectations and we were pleasantly
surprised to find getting on and off the ship no problem with no
queues except a small one in Tallinn probably since it is cheap and
has lots of shops aimed at tourists. On the subject of queing
disembarkation went as smoothly as embarkation. We were off the
ship by 8.30a.m. and home in 2 hours. The only possible improvement
would be to ask specific colour tag groups to wait in designated
areas rather than all milling around in the reception area.

Our enjoyment of the cruise was adversely affected by the number
of small problems, which arose, and an overall impression,
confirmed by others, that RCI are cutting costs to the detriment of
the passengers. For example there was no postcard of the ship in
the cabin; it could be purchased from the shops for 50 cents
complete with tacky logo. There was however a glossy booklet on all
the art onboard; much appreciated but a bit unnecessary. The daily
planner forgot to notify us one day of a time change hence we
missed a shore excursion. Someone decided to move the daily
newssheets from the library to Lattetudes but forgot to tell
anybody. The ship ran out of draught beer ( not for the first time
since it had happened on the previous cruise ) on the same day that
a pitcher special was advertised. Happy hour in the bar meant $1
off cocktails and house spirits not 2 drinks for the price of one
as is normal and, as confirmed by the bar staff , usual on other
RCI ships. I tried to get hold of the cruise questionnaire during
the last day at sea since it had not been delivered to our cabin
only to be told that it would be delivered at 5 p.m. By our cabin
steward: they really enjoy this task if you believe what I was
told: I do not! How RCI expect to get realistic feedback by
delivering the questionnaire on the evening of the last day beats
me. Overall we were glad that we had taken this cruise; the
weather, which stayed sunny and warm throughout, obviously had
something to do with this. About Brilliance we remain a little
uncertain. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as somebody once
said and we believe that Rhapsody of the Seas is certainly far more
beautiful. Equally we had heard that the Radiance class of ships
from RCI were rated at 5 star; sorry to disagree but they remain as
4 star in our book. We have just received an offer not to be missed
to sail on Norwegian Dawn's maiden voyage to New York. Same size
ship, different cruise line, same shipyard, different itinerary.
Promises to be an interesting comparison!

We just finished 12 days on the Brilliance touring Northern
Europe (Aug. 27-Sept. 8), and it was GREAT. Brillance is a
beautiful ship full of wonderful surprises! Of course this review
is my personal opinion and I have read others that harshly critique
some things such as too smoking in bar and dance areas being a
problem for non-smokers, cabins being to small, and crew being new
and inexperienced. These things were not a problem for us.

We are non-smokers and really never noticed too much smoke. We
thought the cabin was comfortable and we had a large balcony. It's
true that the buffet dinning was busy but we were always able to
find pleanty of food and a table. Sometimes things are not perfect
but that's life...it's all in your perspective...we enjoyed our
time on the Brilliance and hope you will too.

The ship was so quite it times it was a wonder that were
sailing. Staff was excellennt, exceeded our expections. Had a cabin
with a balcony on deck nine. Being near the elevator and stairs
made the whole ship accessable.

Dinning room food and staff on par. First time we have had to
pay for soft drinks with dinner. RCCL is now selling Coke cards for
$30 plus, unlimited coke/diet coke. Since we are former cruises,
robes were delivered to our room, for use during the cruise.

Had a great time on the ship. Nice additions were the open
library and pools, both 24 hours a day.